Record Breaker

These pictures were taken at about 4 this afternoon. The first is our outdoor thermometer that's in full shade this time of day. The second is the thermometer in the flower garden in the back yard. It was in full sun. Lastly, the picture of the ocean taken from our back yard shows the misty air that's caused by the 38% humidity. Folks in Ontario will be able to relate to the latter! More of the same is forecast for the next week to 10 days.

George and Joan's Cabin

Yesterday afternoon Richard, Nora Lee, Helen & I went up the lake to George and Joan's cabin. This picture was taken from their deck overlooking the lake. We had a great Pot Luck supper and a great day!

First Tomatoes

Helen picks our first tomatoes of 2009 grown in our pot garden! Or should this read, "In a pot in our garden?" Just in case somebody out there thinks these old folks have discovered another source of income!

Then + Now = Progress

We completed the purchase of our home in Powell River, BC in March of 2002. We commuted a couple of times a year back to Red Deer, Alberta for the first couple of years and finally became BC Residents about 5 years ago. The other day we came across some pictures taken right after buying the house and then we took some over the past few days to compare. It's interesting to take a reality check every once in awhile! Here's what the place looked like back then and what it looks like now. It's a work in progress. Dann and M-J were instrumental in finding the house and convincing us to make an offer. They both spent a lot of time getting it and us ready to live here and "Bingo" here we are.

June, 2009

We're a week away from the end of June so we'll summarize the month in this post. We arrived in Red Deer, Alberta for a family visit May 29th in time to catch the Elephant Trax Granola girls in action at the Red Deer Farmers' Market the next morning; Saturday.

The the next day the girls started to refurbish a Coca Cola cooler given to them by Brian and Elizabeth.

Saturday, July 6th, Kelsey and her horse Argento whose barn name is Archie, had a Dressage show at Burnt Lake Stables west of Red Deer. She competed in 2 events and took the 1st place ribbon in each.
We were at another horse show the next day. This one was a Jumper Show at Los Suenos, Kelsey's home stable where Tannis teaches and coaches her. She won more ribbons with the highlight of the day being the Jump Off where she and Archie achieved the highest they've ever jumped; 4 feet 7 inches!
The weather was brutal for both horse shows that were held in the outdoor rings. There was wind, rain, snow, sleet, and cold! How soon we forget when we live on the Coast!!
We spent a couple of evenings around the fire at both Larry and Laurie's and at Brian and Elizabeth's backyards. Shane, the ballplayer was featured at Larry and Laurie's. Wow, can he hit the balls his Dad pitches for him. He had just about everybody chasing and looking for the balls!


If there are any big league scouts out there, give us a call and we can arrange contract negotiations!



The bonfire and bar-b-que at Brian and Liz's was enjoyed by all. A "Washeroo" tournament was held. A great way to enjoy each other's company. We can't remember who won, except to say we were all winners!
We spent some time at Earl's with Rick, Corrine and the kids. Mikaela still was a bit shy of us but of course doesn't see us on a regular basis. She's a great baby and Shane is definitely the Big Brother! Not that we're a little biased! We're a LOT biased!!




We got home June 15th and were greeted by our bloomin' garden. The neighbours did an excellent job of giving the plants lots of water during the heat wave while we were gone. It was a jungle out there! The fencing was also pretty much completed as was the new "Pot" Shed we had built in which to store all our garden pots and equipment during the winter. It's great to go away, but also nice to get home!


We believe we can all relate to suddenly catch a glimpse of strange objects when traveling but traffic and circumstances usually make it impossible to investigate. However, the images stay with us. We had this kind of experience on our way Red Deer when we passed the sand and gravel pit that's situated close to the fresh produce stand a couple of kilometers West of Chase. We weren't able to take a second look, but did so on our way back and this is what we saw. I call it "The Landing". The question is, "How did it get there?" And, more importantly, how did they miss all the back hoe tractors?

The 5th annual Relay for Life in support of the Canadian Cancer Society was held last Saturday, June 20th. We've been involved in all 5 and this year volunteered to help with the set-up and take down. The Relay started at 7:00 PM and ended at 7:00 AM Sunday. We went home in between!


The next day, Sunday, we had a garden party for neighbors who have moved to Nanaimo. It was a gorgeous afternoon and we had 25 - 30 people. By all reports, it was a huge success!


Monday, June 22nd was time for some r and r in the boat. We took another run up to Rainbow Lodge to tie up at the dock. There was no one there at all and we took advantage of the quiet time to read. Also tried fishing a bit with no luck. Had a light supper and made our way home. A very nice, lazy day in the sun!


On Friday the 26th there was a very low tide in the afternoon so we took Max for a walked to the end of the Willingdon Beach Trail and then to 2nd Beach. Max loves running and rolling in the sand. Especially after just being groomed the day before. In the one picture you can see the white heads of 2 eagles acting as sentries above the trail and in the other picture you can play, "Where's Max?".

Up The Lake -1

Richard, Nora Lee, Helen and Harley took another familiarization trip up Powell Lake this afternoon and went as far as the south end of Goat Island. Everything ran like a top, but more practice needed to get her back in the slip on the first try! The GPS showed us travelling over almost 1200 feet of water in certain spots. Could also see lots of fish on the fish finder at 100 - 150 depth. It was plus 20 degrees and no wind so the water was very calm.  
 
 

Our Boat Gets Wet

Together with our friends, Richard and Nora Lee, we've take the plunge into boat ownership. And, here she is. The manufacturer is Arima from the Puget Sound area of Washington State. It's 19' with a hardtop, an 8' beam and very seaworthy hull. There's a cuddy cabin, ship to shore radio and GPS and it's powered with a Honda 130 hp outboard and a 7.5 hp kicker. It came with a tandem axle trailer and today we launched her in Powell Lake. We'll leave it berthed in the marina at the Shinglemill for this summer. With the trailer we can choose to take it to the ocean for day trips. The best of both worlds! Everybody that sees it is very complimentary. This evening a couple of local guys said, "It's the nicest boat in the Marina."

Another Whale Sighting

This past friday evening we attended the annual Art Walk visiting a number of art galleries along Marine Avenue. In the first gallery folks were talking of having seen at least 3 Orcas in the water off the Lookout earlier in the day. Then, while Helen, NoraLee and I were walking at the corner of Marine Avenue and Alberni Street I spotted a water spout out from the Willingdon Beach area. Sure enough, at least 2 more spouts were spotted and then we could see at least 3 of these majestic sea mammals breaking the surface. We watched them for at least 5 minutes, but unfortunately they weren't close enough for pictures. Another great experience!!

Prawn Season

Today is the first day of the annual 62 day commercial prawn fishing season in the ocean waters around Powell River. We paid a late afternoon visit to our "connection" and bought 10 lbs fresh off the boat. Barb from next door took 4 lbs and we kept 6. Then came the hard part! The peeling is not easy. Especially when they're so fresh. We could go into the explanation of how it's done but as it includes breaking the heads off, we'll leave the details for another time. We had a few for supper and the rest went into the deep freeze to have on hand in case we get visitors this summer.